Local Guides World
Brendan deSouza
1 reviews on 1 places
I debated for a few days whether or not to write this review, but I believe it's important to hold people accountable for their words and behavior.
During my six years in Groningen, I have never encountered such a rude experience with staff. To provide some context both my friend and I, who have brown skin, visited this establishment.
Upon being seated, the server asked if we would like to order drinks. I politely responded, "I'm okay for now." To my surprise, the lady immediately responded, "In Western Europe, you always order drinks." And then she started a rude rant that went on for a while which kept referencing how it's done in western Europe and the Netherlands. Her comments was both rude and racist, unnecessarily bringing nationality into the conversation. I fail to understand the need to inform me about how "it's done in Western Europe" as I am a Portuguese citizen myself. The only thing she had to go off were our skin colors and the fact we don't speak Dutch and automatically assumed we weren't European. Regardless even if we weren't European, there is absolutely no excuse for the rude comments that followed.
When we confronted the server about her rude tone, she begrudgingly acknowledged her lack of niceness but justified it by saying, "I'm Dutch, and I'm just being direct." Obviously this was just an excuse to be rude and make racist comments.
Despite further discussions, she never offered an apology, and after some back and forth suggested we start the conversation anew. Overall, this was quite a shocking experience as the reviews for this restaurant are quite good.
However, having lived in the Netherlands for six years, I can honestly say that this was the only such encounter I have ever faced. I know that this is an isolated indecent and not everyone behaves in such a manner. The lady who served us was probably having a bad day and I would like to believe shes not racist even though the comments she made were. However, I also believe it's important that people are held accountable for their behavior and in this day and age of social media you can not get away with making such comments.
During my six years in Groningen, I have never encountered such a rude experience with staff. To provide some context both my friend and I, who have brown skin, visited this establishment.
Upon being seated, the server asked if we would like to order drinks. I politely responded, "I'm okay for now." To my surprise, the lady immediately responded, "In Western Europe, you always order drinks." And then she started a rude rant that went on for a while which kept referencing how it's done in western Europe and the Netherlands. Her comments was both rude and racist, unnecessarily bringing nationality into the conversation. I fail to understand the need to inform me about how "it's done in Western Europe" as I am a Portuguese citizen myself. The only thing she had to go off were our skin colors and the fact we don't speak Dutch and automatically assumed we weren't European. Regardless even if we weren't European, there is absolutely no excuse for the rude comments that followed.
When we confronted the server about her rude tone, she begrudgingly acknowledged her lack of niceness but justified it by saying, "I'm Dutch, and I'm just being direct." Obviously this was just an excuse to be rude and make racist comments.
Despite further discussions, she never offered an apology, and after some back and forth suggested we start the conversation anew. Overall, this was quite a shocking experience as the reviews for this restaurant are quite good.
However, having lived in the Netherlands for six years, I can honestly say that this was the only such encounter I have ever faced. I know that this is an isolated indecent and not everyone behaves in such a manner. The lady who served us was probably having a bad day and I would like to believe shes not racist even though the comments she made were. However, I also believe it's important that people are held accountable for their behavior and in this day and age of social media you can not get away with making such comments.